Louisville Family Law®

Lawmaker withdraws controversial child support bill

Lawmaker withdraws controversial child support bill

Posted By
Louis P. Winner

Although every state in the nation has family law issues such as divorce,
child custody, child support and even spousal support, it's worth
noting that not every state handles these issues exactly the same. Some
states, just like here in Kentucky, try to adapt their laws to accommodate
changes made in the civil court system. Sometimes it's these changes
though that can grab national attention, which can make some people start
to question what would happen if a similar change was made to their own
state laws.

Such may have been the case recently because of a controversial child support
bill out of Wisconsin that aimed at reducing child support payments for
wealthy individuals in the state. According to reports, the legislation
was introduced in an effort to help a multimillionaire businessman reduce
the amount of child support he paid each month for his three children.
But according to one legislator, the bill encountered a significant amount
of misinformation and was recently withdrawn by the bill's sponsor.

Even though the bill’s sponsor insists that he will resubmit the
bill after he has consulted with family law judges and those affected
by the bill, even a reworked bill could run into opposition much as it
did recently. Some concerns among residents were that the bill would effectively
require shared custody except in certain circumstances and would eliminate
a judge’s discretion on increasing and lowering child support payments
by creating a set formula for payment calculation.

Just like in Wisconsin, residents here in Kentucky might find a similar
change in legislation off-putting because it might leave the spouse with
primary custody at a financial disadvantage down the road. Some residents
here in Kentucky might also think that the bill was being introduced simply
to help out a major campaign contributor with his own family law issues
rather than providing laws in the best interest of children across the
state. In the end, the rationale behind the law may have overruled what
the sponsor of the bill’s real intentions.